: Why isn't SVG widely used-supported on the web? In my opinion, raster graphics (GIF, PNG) is used much more that vector graphics on the web. I am wondering why? Wouldn't vector graphics be

@Gail6891361

I suspect that it has to do with the fact that the needs of design are not met well by pure vector art: many textures and effects are raster based and if you are going to include any raster imagery, then you might as well go full-raster.

If you aren't going to scale by more than a factor of 2 and are using a hybrid SVG, you aren't really realizing the benefits of vector art.

A minor issue with vectors is that they are calculated at render time. In most cases, this is a non issue, but the greater the complexity, the longer the draw time. Coupled with a handheld pinch-zoom device where re-rendering may be happening often, the time adds up and you perceive input lag. Raster "bakes in" the render time so you won't get time spikes during render. This is more a technicality and is generally optimized by the programmers of the particular OS or software (as best as possible).

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@Connie430

SVG is the only vector (it is actually XML code driven) format supported by browsers. Although it has been around for a while, it is relatively new as far as browser support goes. Like all newer techniques (HTML5, CSS3), they take a while to become mainstream.

Many designers have probably yet to adopt using SVG as currently, you'd have to make a fallback PNG anyway to support those older browsers.

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